Synagogue massacre

MK Asks Terrorist Widow: Where's Your Mercy for 25 Orphans?

Widow of Har Nof multiple-murderer begs not to evict her, but MK Ben-Dahan notes her 'shocking' lack of compassion.

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Ido Ben Porat, Gil Ronen, 27/11/14 20:53

Gazans celebrate Har Nof massacre (file)

Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash 90

Deputy Religions Minister MK Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan (Jewish Home) responded Thursday to an appeal by the widow of Ghassan Abu Jamal, one of the perpetrators of the Har Nof synagogue massacre, not to tear down her home and expel her from Israel.

Referring to her three children, Nadia Abu Jamal told Channel 2 News: "As if it is not enough that they lost their father, now they will also lose the home they live in.”

"The wife of the terrorist who murdered five innocent people and left 25 orphans is crying over the fact that following a decision by the Interior Minister, her children will lose their home after they 'lost' their father,” wrote Ben-Dahan on Facebook.

"It is interesting that she does not exhibit a single drop of mercy to the 25 children whose fathers were murdered by the terrorist in cold blood," wrote Ben Dahan. "Shocking."

Nadia Abu Jamal, a resident of Jerusalem's Jabel Mukabar neighborhood, received Israeli residency status because she married an Israeli citizen. The Minister of Interior decided to revoke this status after her husband Ghassan, 31, carried out the massacre armed with hatchets, knives and guns together with his cousin, Uday, 22.

She will now have to leave Israel, and will lose all financial and social privileges from the state, such as national insurance and health insurance.

"They told us, the day after the (synagogue) attack, that they had revoked my residency rights in Jerusalem and that the house will be razed to the ground," Nadia Abu Jamal told AFP.

"If we'd known that my husband was planning an attack, of course we would have stopped him," she claimed. "I heard it on the radio, I heard that the man I loved had done such a thing."

Despite her protestations, when the terrorists' families learned of the attack they passed out candy and celebrated, with relative Ala'a Abu Jamal saying "we responded with shouts of joy when we received the news about their deaths. People here distributed candies to guests who visited us, and there was joy for the martyrs."

Abu Jamal's home is safe for the time being, however: the High Court for Justice issued temporary orders Thursday preventing Israel from demolishing the homes of terrorists involved in the recent murderous attacks in Jerusalem – including the massacre at the Har Nof synagogue, the shooting of Yehuda Glick and the car terror attack at a Light Rail station three weeks ago.

The latest restraining order was issued Thursday after the families of the terrorists who massacred five people at the Har Nof synagogue filed a motion with the assistance of an Arab organization and an Israeli NGO called Hamoked, which lists the New Israel Fund and the Ford Foundation among its donors.

The plaintiffs say that destroying the families' homes, when there is no proof that any of the relatives was directly involved in the terror attack, is improper.